Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport has faced an embarrassing signage error in its automated border-control area after a bilingual panel wrongly suggested Chinese travellers could use PARAFE, while the Chinese version omitted Switzerland and effectively turned Swiss citizens into Chinese citizens. The mistake involved Paris Aéroport, the airport operator, which moved to address the issue after it was spotted.
The likely cause was a translation error linked to the country code CH, the abbreviation for Switzerland in Latin form, which appears to have been misread as China. Paris Aéroport responded with a lighthearted acknowledgement and passed the matter to the relevant teams for correction. The report did not confirm whether the sign had already been replaced or updated when it was published. PARAFE is the automated fast-track border-control system used at the airport for eligible travellers.